The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 8, 2025 was a quirky and playful challenge. The center letter was A, with L, U, G, H, M, and P surrounding it. That meant every word had to include A, which made the hunt for longer words more interesting.

The highlight of the puzzle was the pangram GALUMPH — a whimsical word meaning “to move in a clumsy, heavy, or noisy way.” It’s not one we use in everyday conversation, but it’s exactly the sort of gem that makes Spelling Bee so addictive.

Step 1: Starting with Short Words

As always, I began by looking for the simplest words. Three-letter entries like ham, map, lap, pal, and gap were easy to spot and gave me quick progress.

I also noticed that amp and alp were valid, which helped me warm up before moving toward bigger clusters. These quick wins are essential to get the solving momentum going.

Step 2: Exploring Letter Clusters

Next, I started playing with clusters like pla-, lam-, gam-, and ham-. From these, I picked up words such as lamp, play, clam (if accepted), glam, and hamal (a porter).

The combination of -ph also felt promising, since Spelling Bee often allows words like alpha or aleph. Sure enough, alpha turned out to be a valid entry, and it nudged me closer to the pangram.

Step 3: The Breakthrough – GALUMPH

The real breakthrough came when I saw that all the letters could form GALUMPH. It clicked immediately as today’s pangram.

Finding it was especially satisfying because it’s such a colorful word. Galumph was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass and has since become part of English vocabulary. It perfectly used all seven letters and captured the spirit of today’s grid.

Step 4: Expanding the Word List

With the pangram in hand, I went back through the puzzle methodically. I tested each starting letter — g-, h-, m-, p-, and l- — to catch anything I might have missed. This approach filled out the list with both common and rare entries.

Full Word List (September 8, 2025)

Here are the words I found in today’s puzzle. Every one includes A:

• Pangram: GALUMPH

Other words include:

4-letter words:

• Lamp
• Glam
• Hula
• Gamp (a large umbrella)
• Puma
• Alga
• Alum
• Gaga
• Gall
• Hall
• Haul
• Mall
• Mama
• Pall
• Pupa
• Papa

• Alpha
• Pluma
• Hamal (a porter in South Asia)
• Llama
• Gumma
• Gulag
• Halal
• Laugh
• Magma
• Pampa
• Papal
• Pupal

• Appall
• Mammal
• Mullah
• Palapa

• Galumph (pangram)
• Amalgam

(Note: The official NYT word list may differ slightly, but these are the most likely playable options.)

Reflections on Today’s Puzzle

This was a fun grid because it blended simple, everyday words with unusual gems like galumph, hamal, and gamp. The puzzle struck a good balance between accessible entries (map, lap, lamp) and trickier vocabulary.

The pangram GALUMPH was particularly rewarding to discover. It’s a vivid, almost humorous word that stood out once all the smaller pieces were in place.

Takeaway from Today’s Puzzle

If you managed to spot GALUMPH, congratulations — you probably reached “Genius” status today. Even if you didn’t, the smaller words provided plenty of learning opportunities and moments of discovery.

That’s the beauty of Spelling Bee: every puzzle is a mix of the familiar and the surprising. And today, the surprise came in the form of a clumsy, noisy, but unforgettable pangram — GALUMPH.

Did you stumble upon GALUMPH early, or did it reveal itself after you built up from smaller words like glam and alpha? Share your solving journey in the comments!